arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Ben Page.
We present the most recent results from the FASTSUM collaboration for hadron properties at high temperature. This includes the temperature dependence of the light and charmed meson and baryon spectrum, as well as properties of heavy quarkonia. The results are obtained using anisotropic lattices with a fixed scale approach. We also present the status of our next generation gauge ensembles.
In these proceedings, we discuss the recent approach of Ref. [1] for the construction of compact Ansätze for scattering amplitudes. The method builds powerful constraints on the analytic structure of the rational functions in amplitudes from numerical tests of their behavior close to singularity surfaces. We discuss how we systematically understand these surfaces and how the singular behavior of the rational function can be incorporated into an Ansatz using techniques from algebraic geometry. To perform the numerical sampling, we make use of $p$-adic numbers, a number-theoretical field that can be considered a cousin of finite fields. The $p$-adic numbers admit a non-trivial absolute value, as well as analytic functions such as the $p$-adic logarithm. We provide a detailed example of the approach applied to an NMHV tree amplitude and discuss the efficacy when applied to the two-loop leading-color amplitude for three-photon production at hadron colliders.
Rational coefficients of special functions in scattering amplitudes are known to simplify on singular surfaces, often diverging less strongly than the naïve expectation. To systematically study these surfaces and rational functions on them, we employ tools from algebraic geometry. We show how the divergences of a rational function constrain its numerator to belong to symbolic powers of ideals associated to the singular surfaces. To study the divergences of the coefficients, we make use of $p$-adic numbers, closely related to finite fields. These allow us to perform numerical evaluations close to the singular surfaces in a stable manner and thereby characterize the divergences of the coefficients. We then use this information to construct low-dimensional Ansätze for the rational coefficients. As a proof-of-concept application of our algorithm, we reconstruct the two-loop $0 \rightarrow q\bar qγγγ$ pentagon-function coefficients with fewer than 1000 numerical evaluations.
We present progress results from the Fastsum collaboration's programme to determine the spectrum of the bottomonium system as a function of temperature using a variety of approaches. In these proceedings, the Maximum Likelihood approach is used with an Ansatz comprising of a Gaussian spectral function for the ground state. Fastsum anisotropic lattices with 2+1 dynamical quark flavours were used with temperatures ranging from 47 to 375 MeV.
We present results from the fastsum collaboration's programme to determine the spectrum of the bottomonium system as a function of temperature. Three different methods of extracting spectral information are discussed: a Maximum Likelihood approach using a Gaussian spectral function for the ground state, the Backus Gilbert method, and the Kernel Ridge Regression machine learning procedure. We employ the fastsum anisotropic lattices with 2+1 dynamical quark flavours, with temperatures ranging from 47 to 375 MeV.
We present the calculation of the three distinct non-planar hexa-box topologies for five-point one-mass processes. These three topologies are required to obtain the two-loop virtual QCD corrections for two-jet-associated W, Z or Higgs-boson production. Each topology is solved by obtaining a pure basis of master integrals and efficiently constructing the associated differential equation with numerical sampling and unitarity-cut techniques. We present compact expressions for the alphabet of these non-planar integrals, and discuss some properties of their symbol. Notably, we observe that the extended Steinmann relations are in general not satisfied. Finally, we solve the differential equations in terms of generalized power series and provide high-precision values in different regions of phase space which can be used as boundary conditions for subsequent evaluations.
Any loop QCD amplitude at full colour is constructed from kinematic and gauge-group building blocks. In a unitarity-based on-shell framework, both objects can be reconstructed from their respective counterparts in tree-level amplitudes. This procedure is at its most powerful when aligned with flexible colour decompositions of tree-level QCD amplitudes. In this note we derive such decompositions for amplitudes with an arbitrary number of quarks and gluons from the same principle that is used to bootstrap kinematics - unitarity factorisation. In the process we formulate new multi-quark bases and provide closed-form expressions for the new decompositions. We then elaborate upon their application in colour decompositions of loop multi-quark amplitudes.
We compute the symbol of the two-loop five-point scattering amplitude in $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including its full color dependence. This requires constructing the symbol of all two-loop five-point nonplanar massless master integrals, for which we give explicit results.
We compute the symbol of the two-loop five-point amplitude in $\mathcal N=8$ supergravity. We write an ansatz for the amplitude whose rational prefactors are based on not only 4-dimensional leading singularities, but also $d$-dimensional ones, as the former are insufficient. Our novel $d$-dimensional unitarity-based approach to the systematic construction of an amplitude's rational structures is likely to have broader applications, for example to analogous QCD calculations. We fix parameters in the ansatz by performing numerical integration-by-parts reduction of the known integrand. We find that the two-loop five-point $\mathcal N=8$ supergravity amplitude is uniformly transcendental. We then verify the soft and collinear limits of the amplitude. There is considerable similarity with the corresponding amplitude for $\mathcal N=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory: all the rational prefactors are double copies of the Yang-Mills ones and the transcendental functions overlap to a large degree. As a byproduct, we find new relations between color-ordered loop amplitudes in $\mathcal N=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory.
We compute $ε$-factorized differential equations for all dimensionally-regularized integrals of the nonplanar hexa-box topology, which contribute for instance to 2-loop 5-point QCD amplitudes. A full set of pure integrals is presented. For 5-point planar topologies, Gram determinants which vanish in $4$ dimensions are used to build compact expressions for pure integrals. Using unitarity cuts and computational algebraic geometry, we obtain a compact IBP system which can be solved in 8 hours on a single CPU core, overcoming a major bottleneck for deriving the differential equations. Alternatively, assuming prior knowledge of the alphabet of the nonplanar hexa-box, we reconstruct analytic differential equations from 30 numerical phase-space points, making the computation almost trivial with current techniques. We solve the differential equations to obtain the values of the master integrals at the symbol level. Full results for the differential equations and solutions are included as supplementary material.
We describe how NNLO final state quark-pair corrections are computed in FDR by directly enforcing gauge invariance and unitarity in the definition of the regularized divergent integrals. The whole procedure is strictly four-dimensional and renormalization is performed by simply fixing bare parameters in terms of physical measurements. We give details of our approach and demonstrate how virtual and real contributions can be merged together without relying on dimensional regularization. As an example, we recompute the ${ H} \to b \bar b + {jets}$ and $γ^\ast \to {jets}$ inclusive rates at the NNLO accuracy in the large $N_F$ limit of QCD.
We present advances in the development of the numerical unitarity method for the computation of multi-loop amplitudes in QCD. As an application, we show results for all the leading-color two-loop five-gluon helicity amplitudes. The amplitudes are reduced to a linear combination of master integrals by employing unitarity-compatible integration-by-parts identities, and the corresponding integral coefficients are computed in an exact manner on rational phase-space points through finite fields arithmetics.
We present a calculation of the planar two-loop five-gluon amplitudes. The amplitudes are obtained in a variant of the generalized unitarity approach suitable for numerical computations, which we extend for use with finite field arithmetics. Employing a new method for the generation of unitarity-compatible integration-by-parts identities, all helicity amplitudes are reduced to a linear combination of master integrals for the first time. The approach allows us to compute exact values for the integral coefficients at rational phase-space points. All required master integrals are known analytically, and we obtain arbitrary-precision values for the amplitudes.
We present a general method to account for full colour dependence Yang-Mills amplitudes at loop level. The method fits most naturally into the framework of multi-loop integrand reduction and in a nutshell amounts to consistently retaining the colour structures of the unitarity cuts from which the integrand is gradually constructed. This technique has already been used in the recent calculation of the two-loop five-gluon amplitude in pure Yang-Mills theory with all positive helicities, arXiv:1507.08797. In this note, we give a careful exposition of the method and discuss its connection to loop-level Kleiss-Kuijf relations. We also explore its implications for cancellation of nontrivial symmetry factors at two loops. As an example of its generality, we show how it applies to the three-loop case in supersymmetric Yang-Mills case.
We link the FDR treatment of ultraviolet (UV) divergences to dimensional regularization up to two loops in QCD. This allows us to derive the one-loop and two-loop coupling constant and quark mass shifts necessary to translate infrared finite quantities computed in FDR to the MSbar renormalization scheme. As a by-product of our analysis, we solve a problem analogous to the breakdown of unitarity in the Four Dimensional Helicity (FDH) method beyond one loop. A fix to FDH is then presented that preserves the renormalizability properties of QCD without introducing evanescent quantities.
The Fortran LHAPDF library has been a long-term workhorse in particle physics, providing standardised access to parton density functions for experimental and phenomenological purposes alike, following on from the venerable PDFLIB package. During Run 1 of the LHC, however, several fundamental limitations in LHAPDF's design have became deeply problematic, restricting the usability of the library for important physics-study procedures and providing dangerous avenues by which to silently obtain incorrect results. In this paper we present the LHAPDF 6 library, a ground-up re-engineering of the PDFLIB/LHAPDF paradigm for PDF access which removes all limits on use of concurrent PDF sets, massively reduces static memory requirements, offers improved CPU performance, and fixes fundamental bugs in multi-set access to PDF metadata. The new design, restricted for now to interpolated PDFs, uses centralised numerical routines and a powerful cascading metadata system to decouple software releases from provision of new PDF data and allow completely general parton content. More than 200 PDF sets have been migrated from LHAPDF 5 to the new universal data format, via a stringent quality control procedure. LHAPDF 6 is supported by many Monte Carlo generators and other physics programs, in some cases via a full set of compatibility routines, and is recommended for the demanding PDF access needs of LHC Run 2 and beyond.
At the LHC the CP properties of the top-quark Yukawa interaction can be probed through Higgs production in gluon fusion or in association with top quarks. We consider the possibility for both CP-even and CP-odd couplings to the top quark to be present, and study CP-sensitive observables at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD, including parton-shower effects. We show that the inclusion of NLO corrections sizeably reduces the theoretical uncertainties, and confirm that di-jet correlations in $H+2$ jet production through gluon fusion and correlations of the top-quark decay products in $t\bar tH$ production can provide sensitive probes of the CP nature of the Higgs interactions.
We list all possible R2 Feynman rules needed in NLO computations involving couplings of Higgs and gluons mediated by an infinitely heavy top loop. They provide the rational contribution generated by the (d-4)-dimensional part of the amplitude, paving the way for four-dimensional automatic NLO methods in Higgs phenomenology.